Letters to the Editor

Posted: Sunday, May 21, 2006

Brilliant mind was

a terrible thing to waste

It is always disappointing to see the professional demise of an individual. I was particularly disappointed to see the conviction and sentencing of former attorney "Bubba" Haupt. I knew him when his performance as a plaintiff's attorney was awesome in the courtroom. He was a brilliant mind with no conscience to guide it.

CLYDE M. THOMPSON JR.

Savannah

Government consolidates

power by sowing fear

The National Security Agency is conducting illegal wiretapping and monitoring of phone calls. Who says it is illegal surveillance? Why, they do, of course, and the Supreme Court is in agreement.

The NSA's United States Signals Intelligence Directive 18 (USSID 18) strictly prohibits the interception or collection of information about "... U.S. persons, entities, corporations or organizations ..." without explicit written legal permission from the attorney general of the United States. The Supreme Court has ruled that intelligence agencies cannot conduct surveillance against American citizens. What part of this is unclear?

The NSA is the same agency which revealed secret wiretapping of international calls, keep in mind. They continue to insist that this was also a legal program, but it isn't.

We have reached a level of McCarthy-era hystrionics over terrorism. The very ones entrusted to see to our national security have turned their sights not to terrorists, but to us, instead. At what point do we stop seeing terrorists hiding behind every hedge and mailbox and instead see what has happened to the Constitution? We are systematically being denied the very rights our forefathers fought a war of independence to guarantee.

Benjamin Franklin once said, "Those who would sacrifice liberty in exchange for security deserve neither." It is time to ask our elected leaders if freedom for the masses is their goal, or consolidating power by sowing fear.

Ask yourself - as an American, not a Democrat, Republican or Independent - how have we let things go so far?

JAMES CASKEY

Savannah

Middle-class voters can help

solve immigration problem

While serving in the Air Force I was privileged to have visited nations then considered to be part of the "Free World." At the time, the '50s and '60s, a vast number were considered to be "Third World." I, being occupied with entertaining myself and others, failed to notice the disparity between the countries I visited.

My wake-up call to maturity came during a month-long War College trip which visited Mexico and most Central and South American countries, two to three days being spent in each. Most of the flight crew, having "been there, done that," opted to avoid the tourist traps. This was a major mistake. We soon discovered that in most of the countries we visited that once you parted from the "glitz and glitter" there was nothing but abject poverty. The crew, as a whole, was extremely frustrated and depressed by the realization there was nothing they could do to alleviate these conditions.

We found the same sad situation in most countries we visited, a common thread of feast and famine. Most appeared to lack that which we and most of our politicians take for granted - a middle class. Our cultural and ethnic diversity has been the catalyst which has created a three-class society which is envied the world over.

This unique lifestyle is now being threatened by a mental disorder called xenophobia which has reached epidemic levels among our elected Washington officials. Even the highly respected presidential hopeful Sen. John McCain has been affected. It seems he has teamed up with, of all people, Ted Kennedy, to grant amnesty to all the illegal criminals currently among us.

The electorate has been told that it would be too costly to deport our lawbreaking aliens. My contention is that they are currently costing the overburdened taxpayers more to keep than to deport their ever-growing numbers. These freeloading illegals pay no Social Security nor income taxes. They are currently bilking our welfare system out of housing allowance, food stamps etc. I invite our elected officials to visit any rural south Georgia hospital emergency room after dark or on any given week end and witness how these non-citizens are decimating our already overworked and understaffed health care systems.

Hopefully the majority of voters, America's middle class, will make note of who votes for amnesty.

I almost forgot, psychologists recently discovered a cure for xenophobia. If memory serves, they called it a ballot.

LEO FLANAGAN

Baxley

Reed's leadership experience

makes him most qualified

I support Ralph Reed in his run for lieutenant governor of Georgia for many reasons. Ralph first caught my attention when he became chairman of the Christian Coalition in 1993. Under his leadership this organization was able to mobilize people of faith to vote and raise public issues throughout the United States. In 1994 this grass-roots effort put Republicans in the majority in the House of Representatives.

In 2000 he campaigned for chairman of the Georgia Republican Party and won a well-run grass-roots campaign that kicked off the most dynamic growth for the Georgia Republicans we have ever seen. Under his leadership as chairman of the Georgia Republican Party, Ralph helped elect Gov. Sonny Perdue, U.S. Sen. Saxby Chambliss, two new members of Congress, and gained control of State Senate. He spearheaded the successful legal challenge of legislative maps that paved the way for the GOP majority in the General Assembly.

Ralph grew up in north Georgia, where he learned the values that matter most - faith, family, freedom and hard work, and these are the values that he will take to the state capitol as our next lieutenant governor. Ralph listens, thinks and he is a great communicator. He has the respect, admiration and trust of his many grass-roots supporters. You can see from Ralph's accomplishments that he has great leadership abilities. Georgia needs this good man as its next lieutenant governor.

JOHN RIGBY

Savannah

In reference to the April 30 letter from J. Mitchell Waters ("Tourists are beginning to take over downtown"):

Well, it is about time someone mentioned the 800-pound gorilla in the room, i.e. the congestion around a popular Savannah restaurant on Whitaker and Congress streets.

It is a real serious problem, not only for drivers but for pedestrians. For several years now I have watched as old ladies on walkers, young families and people of all descriptions standing, walking, crossing without looking, even stopped cars letting people out beside the restaurant and frankly it is an accident waiting to happen.

As a local tour guide I try to avoid the area, but it is necessary sometimes when the tourists are on a trolley or motorcoach and are actually going to eat at the restaurant. What is it going to take to make the city or the owner do the obvious, some kind of crowd control? Who will be responsible when someone is seriously injured or killed?

It is virtually impossible to see left on Whitaker Street to pull across with people standing four and five deep on the sidewalk. A solution must be found.